


"Gold's Kitchen" part three

by mrgoldsdearie



Series: "Gold's Kitchen" [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Once Upon a Time Fusion, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 19:46:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2321198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrgoldsdearie/pseuds/mrgoldsdearie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hell’s Kitchen: AU - Hell’s Kitchen opens it’s doors for pasta night and one chef is eliminated from the cooking competition. Chef Gold and Belle have their talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"Gold's Kitchen" part three

**Author's Note:**

> Edited this part myself. So you know, it’s not perfect. Please keep that in mind while reading. This fic is turning out longer than I expected, but I’m okay with that, cause I adore writing this story. As always, I love hearing what you think, so please let me know. *Happy Reading*

The doors to Hell’s Kitchen are open and pasta night is underway. Head waiter Archibald Hopper, brings the first order to the kitchen.

Chef Gold snatches the ticket from Hopper, turns to the kitchen and reads it out loud. “Two covers, for table twenty-three. Lobster spaghetti appetizer and a scallop.”

"Yes Chef," the five competing chefs reply to Gold and begin working on the order.

Belle French is heading the appetizer section, so it’s up to her to get the kitchen started on the right track. “I’m dropping the pasta.” She adds the spaghetti into boiling salted water. “I’m going to call two minutes when I remove it to finish in the sauce. That’s when you need to sear those scallops, Mulan.”

"I hear you, French!" Mulan counts out the scallops for the order, seasons them and waits for Belle’s call.

With the pasta being fresh and handmade, it doesn’t take long for it to cook. “Two minutes on the spaghetti.” Belle tosses it in the sauce, as Mulan starts the sear on the scallops. Belle adds the lobster, she then seasons and tastes the spaghetti. “I’m ready to walk. If you need more time I can hold it back a bit.”

"No need to hold it, I’m ready now." Mulan removes the last scallop from the pan."Walking up with the scallops."

"Following with lobster." Belle sits her pan down at the pass. "Careful Chef, the handle is hot," she says to Gold and goes back to her station.

Chef Gold checks to make sure both dishes meets his high standards. He turns to the kitchen. “Mulan, beautiful sear on those scallops and that spaghetti is perfect.” He sends out the first appetizers. “Service please.” He faces the kitchen. “You two keep working like that and we’ll have these apps out in no time.”

”Yes Chef,” Mulan and Belle reply.

"Next order. Three covers, table fifteen. Two salads, one lobster spaghetti appetizer," Chef Gold calls.

As the chefs work hard on the new ticket, pop princess Ruby Lucas makes her way through the restaurant. Ruby and her grandmother are seated at the chefs table in the kitchen.

Victor Whale notices Ruby and he turns into a ball of nerves. He isn’t paying attention to what he’s doing and drops the chickens for the salad orders onto the floor.

"Victor, you idiot! What the fuck are you doing?" Gold shouts.

"Sorry Chef, I got distracted."

"You got distracted." Chef Gold turns red in the face. "How about this for a distraction dearie? You fucking off out of my kitchen."

"I’m sorry Chef, it won’t happen again. I have two more chickens right here," Victor replies.

"You better hope it doesn’t happen again or you’re packing your shit and going home."

"Yes Chef." Victor hurries to get the second batch of chickens cooked.

"Belle." Gold faces the appetizer section. "Hold back on that spaghetti, lover boy over here dropped the fucking chicken."

"Yes Chef." She pulls her pan off the heat. "How long do you need, Victor?"

Victor checks the temperature of the poultry. “I’m going to need two minutes.”

"Okay, two minutes and I’m walking," Belle announces. When two minutes pass she takes the lobster dish up to the chef.

"Where’s my chicken?" Gold roars.

"It’s not ready Chef. She took the lobster up too early." Victor points the blame at Belle.

"You told me two minutes." Belle defends herself.

"I said three, three minutes.” Victor holds three fingers in the air.

"Shut up Victor." Gold quiets his rambling. "You told her two."

"No Chef, I didn’t."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"No Chef, I’m calling her one.”

Belle’s blood boils. She can’t believe what Victor is trying to do. She starts to go off on him. “You fucking told…”

"No Belle." Gold stops her before she could get another word out. "I’m going to hold the lobster back one more time, Victor. If you bring me up raw fucking chicken, you’re out of here dearie." He slides the pan of spaghetti back to Belle. "He has one fucking minute," he snarls to her.

"Yes Chef," she replies and sits her pan back on the heat.

Victor finally brings the chickens up to the pass and Belle follows once again with the spaghetti.

Chef Gold checks the temperature of the chicken. “Victor, it’s cooked perfectly.”

"Thank you, thank you Chef." Victor says with a smile.

Gold faces Victor and calmly says, “This isn’t the time to fucking celebrate. You made me wait on chicken for a goddamn salad. There’s nothing to be celebrating here, dearie. You should be fucking embarrassed.” He turns back to the expediting station and reads the next ticket.

The rest of the appetizer service goes smoothly and now Hell’s Kitchen moves on to serving entrées.

"We’re serving the chefs table now." Gold points at Victor. "Keep it in your fucking pants this time."

"I will Chef. I have it under control."

"Two covers. One duck ravioli and a squid ink pasta."

"Yes Chef," the competing chefs respond.

Ashley Boyd is leading the entrée station and she drops both pastas into the boiling water and starts working on the sauces.

Jefferson notices Ashley starting the pastas to cook. He knows each pasta has a different cooking time and dropping them together will end with uneven cooking. He doesn’t tell her about her mistake, but offers to help her with the sauces instead.

"How long on those entrées, Ashley?" Gold asks.

"I’m bringing them right now." She takes the pans up to the pass.

Sous-chef Regina checks the quality of the pasta dishes and she turns to Chef Gold. “These raviolis are under cooked.”

Gold grabs the pans and slams them on the counter behind him. “Ashley, come here!”

Ashley rushes toward the chef.

He hands her a spoon. “Just taste that.”

She cuts through one of the raviolis and she immediately knows what’s wrong with it, but she still tastes it. “It’s under cooked Chef.” She jumps back, as Gold snatches up the pans and dumps the pastas in the trash.

"Start. Again!" He slams the empty pans back into the counter.

"Yes Chef," her voice shakes and she dashes back to cook more pasta. She makes the same mistake and cooks the pasta longer.

Jefferson doesn’t say a word about the cooking times. He just continues to help her with the sauces. “I can walk them up for you.”

"Thank you, Jefferson," Ashley says nervously.

As Jefferson takes the pans to Chef Gold, he grins knowing that the pastas are still incorrect.

Gold inspects the pasta and the squid ink is over cooked. “Ashely, what the hell are you doing over there? This ticket is for the VIP. We can not serve them mushy pasta. Get your shit together!” He tosses both pans into the trash.

Belle darts over to give Ashley a hand.

Jefferson refuses to let her help. “We got this, Belle. Go back to your station, you’re not needed here.”

"Ashley needs someone to have her back. You’re just letting her drown."

"I have her back." Jefferson smirks.

Belle tries to get passed Jefferson, but he steps in her way.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" Gold yells. "Belle, get back to your station."

"Yes Chef," she says and slowly backs away.

"Back to your fucking station, Chef Boyardee wanna be." Jefferson grins and goes back to “helping” Ashley.

Belle holds in the urge of hurling a hot pan at the back of his head.

Jefferson makes the sauces for Ashley again and takes the finished dishes up to the chef.

Gold tastes the pastas and quickly turns around. “Jefferson, run the fucking station, she’s burnt out,” he says, making a sour face.

"Yes Chef," he laughs quietly to himself and nudges Ashley out of his way. Jefferson drops the raviolis into the water first and after three minutes he adds the squid ink pasta.

Ashley stands back, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Jefferson finishes the dishes and proudly takes them to the chef.

Gold checks the pasta for the forth time and it’s perfect. “Fucking finally.” He plates the pasta dishes, hands them to his sous-chef Zelena and she serves the VIP guests.

With Jefferson heading the entrée station, dinner service ends with every customer being served. After dessert and clearing their stations, the five competing chefs stand before Chef Gold.

"I expected tonight to go a lot smoother than it did. You are the top five chefs and every dinner service should be perfect. I’m disappointed in a few of you. No one will be deciding who is up for elimination. I’m doing that myself. Now, get out of here."

All of the chefs head up to the dorms, but Belle French stays behind.

"Chef Gold, I still need to talk to you."

"Yes Belle, I remember. Would you like to talk in my office?"

She shakes her head yes and he leads her up to his office.

In the office, Gold pulls out a chair, offers her the seat and sits on top of the desk in front of her. “What’s on your mind dearie?”

"Well." She takes a deep breath. "It’s about the time we spent together, out of the kitchen earlier today. I want to apologize for my behavior. I would never try to use my sexuality to win the competition. I don’t want the way that I acted to compromise your decision on my position here."

Gold looks at her and takes in her words.Everything she just told him is straight from her heart. “That was a brave and very noble thing you just did.” He smiles at her.“Nothing you do outside the kitchen will ever compromise what you do in it.” He assures her. “About your behavior, you must be talking about flirting, right?”

"Yes Chef, I didn’t mean to flirt with you."

"You must not have meant to, but did you flirt with me?" he asks.

She takes another deep breath. “Yes Chef, I did.”

"Thank you for being honest with me, Belle." He sighs. "Well, I’ll just have to say… I flirted with you as well."

Belle’s eyes widen. “Wait. What?” She never expected that response from him.

"I find you very interesting and the time I spent with you today, was some of the most fun I’ve had in awhile. So, I guess the flirting was mutual."

Belle just stares at him. She doesn’t know what to say.

Gold removes the hair that’s stuck to her sweaty cheek.

She slowly turns her head away.

He sits his hand back on to his lap. “I just want to get to know you, Belle.”

"I would adore nothing more than that, but this isn’t right, Chef. We’re in a competition. I don’t want, whatever this is between us, to interfere with my place or anyone else’s place here."

"It won’t."

"What?" She asks confusingly.

"It won’t interfere with your place or anyone else’s." He looks her in the eyes. "Dearie, if you fuck up in my kitchen, I won’t hesitate to kick your ass out."

"Wow, that’s actually a relief."

"I bet it is." He smirks. "We’ll have to keep this just between ourselves."

"Yes, I know." She takes a second to absorb this moment. She thought confessing to Gold would be her ticket straight home. "Okay, what do we do now?"

He slowly takes her hand. “I would like to see you again, if you want to see me.”

"Yes Rumple, I would love to see you again." She smiles and squeezes his hand.

"How about tonight, after the elimination. You can meet me back here."

"That’s if I’m still in the game." She rolls her eyes and puts her other hand to her face.

"Hmm, I probably shouldn’t comment on that."

"You’re right not to." She sighs. "I should go. You still have a decision to make." She removes her hand from his. "If I do go home tonight, it will save me from trying to sneak out of the dorms." She stands and walks to the door.

Gold laughs to himself. “Have you ever sneaked out of anywhere before dearie?”

"Are you kidding me? of course I have," she snickers.

Chef Gold stands beside her at the door. “I’ll see you later. Umm, do you mind if I give you a kiss?”

"No Rumple, I don’t mind at all."

He slowly leans into her and softly kisses her cheek.

Belle smiles and places her hand over her cheek.

Gold opens the door for her and she heads up to the dorm rooms.

Belle walks into the dorm with the brightest smile on her face. Until she sees Ashley crying on the couch and goes over to comfort her.

"I really fucked up. I’m not used to cooking fresh pasta." Ashley sobs on Belle’s shoulder.

"You just needed someone to have your back on the station tonight. You didn’t have that with Jefferson he was just looking out for himself. To tell you the truth, I think he may have sabotaged you."

Ashley cries harder. “I’m going home.”

"We don’t know that."

"I do."

The phone rings and Belle answers it. “Yes Chef.” She hangs up. “That was Chef Zelena, Gold is ready for us.” She announces.

Everyone heads back down to the kitchen for the elimination.

Chef Gold comes down from his office and stands before the five contestants.“Tonight’s dinner service was dreadful and embarrassing. For one of you, it was your last. Mulan, you were absolutely spot on tonight, one of the only people to be counted on.”

"Thank you Chef," Mulan responds.

"The chefs I need to hear from are Victor and Ashley, down in front."

They both step out of the line.

"Victor, you were thinking with the wrong head tonight. Are you going to be distracted every time you see a pretty lady?"

"No Chef, I will admit, seeing Ruby here kinda got to me, but I promise that will never happen again," Victor states.

"Ashley, why should you stay in Hell’s Kitchen?" Gold asks.

"I’m a hard worker and I’m willing to learn. I’ve come far and overcame a lot in this competition. I’m not ready for it to end now." She sniffs and holds back tears.

"This was a tough decision, but the person leaving Hell’s Kitchen is…. Ashley, I’m sorry dearie. You’re just not ready to be head chef, please hand me your jacket."

Ashley wipes her tears, takes off her jacket and shakes Gold’s hand.

"Hey, come here." Gold hugs her. "You are an excellent cook and you came far without having any formal training. You should be very proud of yourself."

"I am proud Chef. Thank you so much for this opportunity." She waves goodbye to the final four competitors and walks out of the restaurant.

Chef Gold addresses the four chefs. “The fact that she kept making the same mistakes and not trying anything to fix them, is the reason why she went home tonight. I gave her three chances and she failed. Ashley leaving tonight had nothing to do with you not helping her properly.” He points to Jefferson.

Jefferson’s eyes grow wide.

Gold glares at him. “I see more than you think dearie.”

"Yes Chef, I…."

"Shut up." Gold cuts him off. "Hell’s Kitchen will not be opening tomorrow, but there will be a cooking challenge. The winner of that challenge will be safe from the next elimination. Most of you look like you desperately need to sleep. So, goodnight."

The top four chefs start to exit the kitchen. Belle French turns back and looks at Chef Rumple Gold. He smiles at her and she shyly smiles back and turns away, then she heads up to the dorm.

Belle waits two hours after everyone falls asleep and makes her escape to meet with Gold. She sneaks down the hall and creeps around corners, watching her back the entire time. She finally makes it to Gold’s office unseen. She takes a deep breath, and slowly turns the knob to peek in.

Gold is waiting for her at his desk. “Hello dearie.”

She scuffles in and shuts the door behind her. “Hey.”


End file.
